Setting

Mrs S Anderson Interim Headteacher St Andrew’s CofE Primary School Weald Drive Furnace Green Crawley West Sussex RH10 6NU

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Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 22 March 2016, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. Thank you for the help you gave me and for the time you made available to discuss the actions you are taking to improve the school since the most recent section 5 inspection.

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Primary School

The visit was the second monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require improvement following the section 5 inspection in June 2015. It was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. At its previous section 5 inspection the school was also judged to require improvement.

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Primary School

Senior leaders and governors are not taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement identified at the last section 5 inspection. The school should take immediate action to:

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Primary School

 manage further changes in the school’s leadership this summer so that current improvements are embedded and teaching and learning can continue to improve  improve the use of assessment to check the quality of pupils’ learning throughout lessons and be able to respond effectively to the needs of different groups of learners  close gaps that remain between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and others. Ofsted

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Primary School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Evidence

During the inspection I had several meetings to discuss the actions taken since my last inspection visit in November 2015. I met with you and other senior staff, representatives of the governing body, including the chair of the governing body, and a representative of the local authority. I also had a telephone conversation with a representative of the diocese. The school’s new improvement plans were evaluated. Records of monitoring visits made on behalf of the local authority were scrutinised. We briefly visited every class to see teaching and learning.

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Context

Since my previous visit you have taken up post and are leading the school as its interim headteacher. A new headteacher has recently been appointed and will take up the role from September 2016. The mathematics coordinator is currently the acting deputy headteacher. The local authority has removed the governing body’s powers to manage its delegated budget. Two additional governors have been appointed to what is now an interim management board, one from the local authority and the other from the diocese. Two new classroom teachers have already been appointed for September.

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Main findings

By undertaking lesson observations and scrutinies of pupils’ work you have accurately identified the significant and urgent improvements required to the quality of teaching and learning. You have worked successfully with your acting deputy to begin to address many important aspects of the school’s work that are in need of improvement. There is now a school development plan in place that contains clear strategies for improvement and appropriately challenging descriptions of the impact they will make by key points over the rest of this year. However, there remains a great deal to be done to ensure that pupils are learning well enough throughout key stages 1 and 2. Even with the much better progress now being made, there are still few reliable indicators that that the school will be able to secure good teaching and learning for all pupils by its next full inspection.

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Main findings

Current Year 6 pupils are learning in a calmer and more focused way this term, despite having had several teachers over recent years. Many pupils’ progress in writing has been quite weak previously and a significant proportion are unlikely to reach the standard expected of them this summer. Reading skills are better developed but may well not match national averages by the end of the key stage. Likely outcomes in mathematics look to be an improvement on the achievement of pupils by the end of key stage 2 last year but are still not good. A lot of extra support has been put in place to help as many Year 6 pupils as possible to make up lost ground in their learning before they leave primary school. This includes special one-to-one mentoring, after-school mathematics sessions and holiday writing workshops. Learning in Years 4 and 5 is more secure. Children’s learning in the Reception Year remains a strength in the school. The organisation of the learning of pupils who have

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Main findings

special educational needs or disability is being usefully overseen by you and another member of staff until a special educational needs coordinator can be appointed. Some gaps between the achievements of disadvantaged pupils and others are not closing sufficiently quickly.

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Main findings

New systems to ensure greater coherence in teaching strategies across year groups, along with higher expectations, are beginning to support better learning. Lessons are being planned to an agreed model and this enables you to monitor this and to lend support and offer challenge efficiently. The new approach to teaching mathematics supported by a neighbouring school has been adopted in all classrooms and is supporting pupils’ better learning of essential skills. The local authority’s support for the teaching of phonics (letters and the sounds that they make), reading and writing is also beginning to improve the effectiveness of this teaching. You have usefully introduced a system of regular testing to allow teachers to understand the standards that pupils are achieving and be able to plan accordingly. This is in response to some previous assessments of pupils’ achievements having been unreliable. Ongoing assessment in lessons remains a priority for development.

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Main findings

Overall, teaching is improving, but new ways of working need to become embedded so that pupils can fully benefit.

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Main findings

Pupils’ behaviour remains securely positive and they show a great willingness to learn. They cooperate with their teachers and with each other productively in lessons, reflecting the strong values of the school. Behaviour on the playground is lively but pupils get on very well with each other most of the time.

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Main findings

Governors remain committed to securing the best possible outcomes for pupils. They understand and support the steps you have taken to improve the quality of teaching and they are appreciative of the extensive support provided by the local authority and the diocese. They value the much improved sharing of information which now takes place and are much better informed about the day-to-day work of the school as a consequence.

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Main findings

A lot has changed for the better this term. However, concerns remain about the capacity of the school to be judged good at its next inspection. A further visit may well be undertaken to gauge the impact of the actions being put in place.

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External support

The local authority has provided good-quality and wide-ranging support to the school since my previous visit. Working closely with the diocese, they responded rapidly to the need to secure good-quality, interim leadership. An extensive programme of very useful training and monitoring and extra support has been put in place which includes:  local authority advisers working with the school to improve the teaching of phonics, support planning in English and general lesson planning, support for the use of performance data and the validation of teachers’ judgements about pupils’ achievements  brokered support from Langley Green Primary School, especially for mathematics  consultancy support to ensure that appropriate provision for pupils who have special educational needs or disability is in place  brokered support from All Saints CofE Primary School in Horsham for leadership and management  an additional local authority governor who works closely with the senior adviser

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External support

 independent consultancy support to monitor the progress being made by the school  direct oversight of the progress of the school by the local authority senior adviser.

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External support

The diocese has also provided an extra governor to strengthen the governing body’s capacity to challenge and support.

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External support

All of this represents a high level of support which is well matched to the school’s needs. The provision is integrated closely into the school improvement plan.

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External support

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of children’s services for West Sussex, and the director of education for the Diocese of Chichester.

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